During the 2014 Congress, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) was able to gain a lot of momentum for his Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act of 2014.
The bill would require a Government Accountability Office report to Congress before the U.S. relinquishes global Internet oversight responsibilities. It has been approved by the full Energy and Commerce Committee and passed the House as an amendment to the defense authorization bill.
“The global Internet has run smoothly for 25 years because U.S. oversight ensured authoritarian governments had no control over the Internet beyond their own borders,” Shimkus said. “Until the administration can guarantee that will remain the case under the oversight of international stakeholders, we should not surrender our oversight role.”
Proponents of the DOTCOM Act cite examples such as foreign governments shutting off Twitter or YouTube before elections, and say the control of the Internet cannot be left open.
The issue of the United States handing over its role in Internet governance has been widely debated in recent years, with calls for more U.S. oversight coming from both political parties.
“My bill is a simple good government bill,” Shimkus said. “Trust but verify. Since we only get one chance to get this right, we have to make sure the Obama administration doesn’t just rubberstamp whatever proposal (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) comes up with. Oversight is important, especially with this administration.”
Shimkus has represented Illinois’s 15th District in the House of Representatives since 1997. Born in Collinsville, Illinois, in 1958, Shimkus previously served as member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois’s 19th district from 2003 to 2013. Shimkus was educated at US Military Academy and is married to Karen. He serves on the following committees: Energy and Commerce, NATO Parliamentary Assembly.